Professional wrestling and the performing arts: words that go as hand-in-hand as a loving mother and her child.

At its core, pro wrestling is as much theatrics, pomp and pageantry, as it is athleticism. And while certainly any man or woman with a great physique commands the attention of an audience, history has shown that the most well rounded talents, those who can both wrestle in the ring and rant outside of it are the ones most remembered through history.

The importance of blending those skills was not lost on a young Matt Rehwoldt, the man known in World Wrestling Entertainment circles as Aiden English, one half of the dynamic duo taking the wrestling world by storm known as The Vaudevillains.

A lifelong wrestling fan, English's journey into the professional wrestling world started on stage.

"The wrestler part was always there," he said during a telephone interview ahead of this weekend's WWE Extreme Rules special on the WWE Network. "I think I used the stage acting as a way for me to kind of get my feet into the whole world of performance and entertainment and everything else because ever since I was kid, I've wanted to do this. (Wrestling) was always first and foremost in my mind and in my heart."

Unsure exactly how to break into the business of pro wrestling, English figured honing his skills in acting and performing in front of live audiences would only help his cause.

"When I was in high school, I got into theatre and that bug bit me right away and I continued onward up through college and a little bit of professional experience. And then after I'd done my school and I'd decided I was ready to break into the world of sports entertainment, I took all of those skills and kind of began my journey."

And what a journey it has been. By the time he reached the tender age of 20, English had nearly two dozen stage productions under his belt, a great physique and the makings of a future wrestling star well under way.

In 2011, he began training to chase his dream in pro wrestling. Very quickly, he was scooped up by World Wrestling Entertainment and assigned to its developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, now known as NXT.

There, English spent the first couple of years learning the ropes and trying to make a name for himself, which he eventually did, blending his stage skills with his mat skills and singing before, during and after matches. But it wasn't until his now tag team partner Simon Gotch was hired by WWE that English found his breakout character. Together, the duo formed a Vaudeville-inspired tag team, which was an instant hit with fans.

"I had been in NXT for probably about two years when this (idea) came up," English said of the origins of the duo. "We had just started at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and at the time, I was doing my theatrical, artiste entrance to the ring and doing things on my own and Simon Gotch had just recently come to WWE. I think someone basically suggested, 'Hey, Simon has this unique look, you have this whole entertainer, artiste thespian persona going on, is there anything there?' To be fair, we did not know each other so this wasn't something we originally threw together, but when somebody kind of tossed the idea out there, we got together and we're like, 'How can we turn this into something?'"

They turned it into something, alright.

"All I remember was that somebody threw out the word vaudeville," English said. "Obviously, coming from a theatre background, I loved all that stuff. So I literally went home that night, sat on my bed and said, 'Hmm, vaudeville ... alright, we're going to do a team ... vaudeville ... Vaudevillains.' ... It literally rolled off my tongue as I said it out loud. I went, 'OK, let's try that,' and boom, literally the next day off we went, we started teaming, we started doing shows, then NXT and so on and so forth."

So on and so forth included a run as NXT tag champions, becoming crowd favourites, despite being booked as bad guys and a call up to the main roster that sees them facing WWE tag team champions The New Day for the WWE tag team championships on Sunday at Extreme Rules. Heady stuff indeed.

"To be fair, I never expected a lot of what's come my way in my life and my career, especially since joining WWE a couple of years ago," English said. "This whole thing has been, I know it's a cliche, but it's been a whirlwind, especially the last two months. And I couldn't be more excited, I couldn't be more happy and I couldn't be more ready to be in that position."

After spending much of his life developing the skills he's now using to woo wrestling fans and brass alike, English admitted that coming to work for the company has given him a new appreciation for the history of the business, and those who came before him.

"When I was young, I was a fan of the whole business of sports entertainment and WWE," he said, adding that hall of famer and legend Shawn Michaels was his idol growing up.

"There wasn't anything he could do wrong in my mind and he was kind of everything about sports entertainment that I liked, that I wanted to watch and that I wanted to do. He was the first foremost guy who inspired me in this business. But since I've gotten into the business of WWE and sports entertainment, I've kind of learned to appreciate a lot more people who I might not have known about when I was a younger kid: guys like Gorgeous George, Ric Flair, Dick Slater, Mad Dog Vachon, Killer Kowalski ... these old-school guys who have a lot of influence on who I am and who we are as the Vaudevillains," he said, also adding that wrestler-turned-executive Triple H has also had a huge impact on his career since joining WWE.

The transition from NXT, which sees wrestlers spend the bulk of their time in Florida training at the WWE Performance Center, has been made easier for English thanks to the help of his mother-in-law Vickie Guerrero, the widow of the late, great Eddie Guerrero and a star in her own right with the WWE for years. English married their daughter Shaul recently, officially joining the Guerrero family.

"Obviously, anytime you have family or friends or anybody who has been in the business you're in or been down the path, it's an invaluable asset, an invaluable centre for advice. My mother-in-law Vickie is an amazing person and has been nothing but helpful and supportive," English said. "She helps with the little things, dealing with being on the road and being away from home and how to keep up communication and little things like where the best hotels are, how to find a gym, little things on the road. She's helped me deal with this transition from NXT where I was primarily just in Florida to now with WWE, where I'm on the road every single week, something she knows plenty about. She's been nothing but helpful and supportive and very, very sweet and kind."

English dismisses, for the time being, any notion of a storyline involving his family.

"For the record, a lot of people have said the 'Aiden Guerrero' quip to me, which I find very funny. To be fair, I want to let the world know, she took my last name, just for the record," he added, before turning serious. "I mean, obviously any kind of opportunity for good television, good entertainment, I will consider and jump at, but for me, right now, I'm happy to keep my family my family and my business my business. For right now, that's a very happy balance and I like it that way."

English also believes that the fans at Monday Night Raw and SmackDown will embrace The Vaudevillains gimmick, something that can always be challenging for new talent graduating from NXT.

"I think, given the chance, I believe that they'll take to it quite, quite keenly," he offered. "As time goes on, and people see us every single week, they'll grow to understand why we say the things we say, why we do the things we do and what makes us real men, as we put it, and I think this Sunday at Extreme Rules on the WWE Network, that's going to be a really good opportunity for everybody to see what we can do."

English also believes in tag team wrestling, which is enjoying something of a renaissance of late on WWE programming.

"Tag team championships are more relevant than they've been in a long time," he said. "Just ask my friends in NXT, The Revival, they'll tell you. Ask American Alpha, ask Blake and Murphy, ask Enzo and Cass ... all of these who for the past two years have been working to make tag team wrestling something great again and something everybody wants to see again. And now that we're here in WWE, there are teams like The New Day, who we face on Sunday at Extreme Rules. Guys like that are making tag titles relevant again. As you can tell, I get pretty passionate about it. I love tag team wrestling. I love tag team sports entertainment, in all aspects."

The whirlwind that The Vaudevillains are riding at the moment takes them into Sunday as underdogs to face The New Day, who've held the WWE tag titles for what feels like an eternity. No matter the outcome -- English confidently predicted victory on more than one occasion -- life is good these days.

"I was a kid who grew up in suburban Illinois," English said. "I saw corn fields and flat land my whole life so I've always wanted to see the world so anytime I can get to get out of the country, get out of my comfort zone, get somewhere new, I think it's such a great opportunity."

If English's life were staged theatre, it would be a storybook ending, and beginning, for the lifelong acting and wrestling enthusiast.

"We were actually told on the night of WrestleMania 32 in Dallas, we were informed that we were going to be coming to Raw and SmackDown and travelling with the main roster," English said. "To be told that on the day of the biggest event of the year -- you're already there, you're excited just to see the show, let alone be a part of the company ­-- and they tell you you're making the next big move of your career, I'll never forget where I was, I'll never forget how it felt."

Jan Murphy is the news editor at the Kingston Whig-Standard and has written about wrestling for 15 years. He launched Chinlock.com to archive his wrestling stories. You can follow Jan on Twitter at @Jan_Murphy.